Intelligence is to to understand or perceive. There is no general agreement on what intelligence is. The idea comes from a Latin word: intelligo meaning to choose between different options. A part of intelligence allows people to solve problems. These problems may be easy to solve. They may also be difficult to solve, and involve abstractthought. For some, intelligence is a property, or characteristic of the mind. For others, it is simply the working of the brain, especially the cerebral cortex.

If an answer is found to a problem, it can be remembered. That way, the problem is solved more quickly when it comes up again. This is what is called learning.

Scientists believe that intelligence can be measured or tested. A type of intelligence test would be solving many problems in a very short time. Most of the problems have to do with seeing things, or telling what a rotatedshape would look like. Some are also related to mathematics: for example to tell what number would come next in a row. Other tests have to do with words or the understanding of language. After giving such a test to a person, a number would be calculated to give an approximation of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Since many of the words on the language tests come from Latin, this part of an Intelligence Quotient might measure how much a person has learned or understands Latin.